1939 Lagonda

SALINA, Kan. — Rich Morrison’s 1939 Lagonda Le Mans replica looks like it should be blazing down the Mulsanne straight at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, France, instead of meandering  the streets of Salina.

 Morrison’s car is one of fewer than 20 reproductions of the two cars that finished third and fourth in the 1939 Le Mans race. It looks and sounds fierce but it is surprisingly docile when driven on the street. 

 Morrison, whose older brother Roger also collects cars, has been hooked on cars for as long as he can remember. He was given a go-kart when he was in junior high. His first foray into vintage racing was in 1983 when he drove his 1964 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso in  Kansas City’s Folly Classic Vintage Grand Prix. Today he races both a vintage Bentley and the Lagonda.

 In 1939, the two Lagonda Le Mans racers finished third and fourth in the 24-hour race. These V-12 beauties sprang from W.O. Bentley, the engineer who left Bentley and Rolls-Royce to work for Lagonda in 1935.

 Morrison’s admiration for Bentley led him to purchase the Lagonda while on a trip to England more than 20 years ago. Morrison said he had just finished reading Bentley’s autobiography about his Le Mans exploits when he saw this car for sale in England, and he bought it on the spot. Morrison’s replica was built by Joe Harding, formerly of England and now of San Diego.

 Because the actual Le Mans-0winning Lagondas were damaged in the war, replicas such as this one are the only way to get a taste of what the 1939 cars were like. The engine is a 4.5-liter V-12, and Morrison said his car develops 165 horsepower at the rear wheels. Morrison added an overdrive to the four-speed transmission and he said he can comfortably cruise at 70 miles per hour.

 And cruise it he does. Morrison has driven his Lagonda in the Colorado Grand vintage tour twice, and ealier this year he and his wife, Sallie, took it on a 500-mile, three-day tour in West Virgina. He has also raced it up Pikes Peak and twice was given the performance and presentation award at the prestigious Monterey Historics race in Laguna Seca, Calif.  Next week he will drive it from Los Angeles to Monterey to compete in two vintage sports car races.

 Morrison is fortunate to be able to experience W.O. Bentley’s Lagonda handiwork from behind the wheel of a race car that looks like speed personified.